Scalby beck (the Sea cut) is a named after the pretty village of Scalby roughly 3 km north of Scarborough. The beck runs from Mowthorpe farm near the village of Hackness to the small sea estuary at Scalby Mills, which was so called because of the working Water Mills that used to be situated on the lower end of the beck.
The start of the beck at Hackness is linked to the River Derwent and in times of flood acts as an overflow for excess water to run to the sea instead of flooding the alluvial forge valley plain. This stretch of the beck runs through flat arable land roughly for about two miles until it gets to the bridge at Newby. This is where the landscape changes dramatically and we now see steep sided wooded banks and deep gorges. Once the beck gets to the bridge at Burniston road there are three large weirs on the beck in this area that show in their depth the actual high gradient of the beck, two of the lower weirs have fish passes situated on them which have been added after their original construction. In times of high spate the beck can be quite spectacular to watch and also very dangerous to fish near these weirs. Continuing downstream there is more of the steep sided wooded landscape for about another mile until we get to the slower meandering stretch that is full of rocky gorges and deep gulley’s. This part of the beck then runs into the high sided cliff of Scalby Ness which protrudes on the left and is part of the Cleveland Way. On the right hand side is a muddy sliding hill which runs all the way down to the small sea estuary at Scalby mills.
Scalby Beck Angling Club was formed in 1890.
Contact SBAC at scalbybeckac@gmail.com